All Blacks look sharp but miss out on victory

Gainsborough All Blacks in their new kit, sponsored by Cliff Bradley and Sons

Published:12:05Tuesday 20 January 2015

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Gainsborough were denied a win, in their new sponsored kit, in front of their home supporters on Saturday, when they went down 15-8 to Ollerton.

Sporting their new Cliff Bradley and Sons sponsored gear, the All Blacks were in action at the Queen Elizabeth High School pitch .

Sam Bobyk and Carlton Bradley of Cliff Bradley and Sons, with the new Gainsborough All Blacks shirt

Unfortunately neighbours Ollerton went home with the points after a closely fought encounter.

Gainsborough had two changes to the team, club captain Vernon Goude returning to the side to replace the suspended James Taylor and Elliot Humphrey making his first appearance for 14 months from the bench.

It was an incident filled game, the hosts losing two players to the bin throughout the match and losing the ever reliable Daniel Dawson to injury sustained in a tackle, a broken eye socket putting him out for the rest of the season.

The first half whilst even in most parts of the pitch ended with the visitors 10 points in front from two well taken tries.

The Gainsborough side does not seem to be having any luck in the final third of the pitch and whilst they spend plenty of time in the oppositions territory they are not able to convert territory into points.

The second half was more of the same but the hosts came out slightly on top in this 40 minute period, scoring a fine try by Rick Marsh from the wing and converting a penalty from the boot of Tom Parkinson, making the final score 15-8.

Gainsborough had some positives to take from the match however.

A club spokesman told the Standard: “It was good to see the team in their new strip and the presence of representatives of main sponsor Cliff Bradley.”

“Elliot Humphrey’s return was a real positive and it was good to see the way that Humphrey and Chadwick renewed their partnership in the centres.”

“Grant Bell worked hard in the lineout and took some good ball from the opposition and Man of the Match Matt Reeve put in another fine display in the back row, providing a good link between forwards and backs alongside his superb tackling.”

With better game management Gainsborough could have won, but for the second week in succession they narrowly lost on the scoreboard.